I’ve come to the understanding that during an episode of psychosis, dealing with symptoms of mania, a person can do things they would normally “never” consider in 1 million years. When I facilitated the Sarasota DBSA (Depression Bipolar Support Alliance), one member, who just a week earlier was arrested after streaking down town Main Street, regretted doing it, but only had “vague” memories of it; mostly from what was written in the newspaper.

She expressed her sorrow and disappointment because it was the third time she had done it! (Good thing YouTtube was not around back then!) Another person would lock herself in her house during periods of mania to avoid getting in trouble with her hypersexuality issues. Now, add social media and being locked in the house to avoid trouble…and it could be more harmful then helpful. Why?

Many women MAY NOT be looking for “physical” companionship – rather just want to talk to someone. Yet, it’s possible that “Women find cyberspace comforting because they are not being judged by their looks,” say Jenny Madden, the founder of Women in Cyberspace. “But they also leave themselves very open to manipulation because there is a tendency, in chat rooms particularly, to give away a lot about yourself very quickly.”

What Are Some of the Consequence of Hypersexual and Sex Addiction?

Yes, I would not put it past anyone to send a mass e-mail (like the one above) to appease their hypersexual tendencies. The problem is the DANGER they put themselves and their significant other in. One can be exposed to AIDS – HIV and a long list of other issues!

Hypersexuality has no romantic love story to it. In fact, it’s more of a tragedy than a love story! The urges are so intense that one is driven to sex “like a bull to the slaughter.” It’s all one thinks about; every second of anticipation of that next moment to indulge in the mire. Tell me if this experience sounds like a love story to you:

I think I went through my first full-blown manic episode last month. I was incredibly sexual and had nonstop energy one day and decided on a whim to visit a prostitute for the first time in my life – cheating on my wife of 7 years in the process. I know what I have done is despicable and I have been sobbing over it since it happen….What makes it worse is that I now am convinced that I’ve contracted HIV from the prostitute. – see: Hypersexual and Bipolar

Hypersexual and Love and Sex addiction affects men and women

Sex addiction or hypersexuality is coming into the limelight more and the reality is that it affects men and women. Here is one of my courageous friends, Dani Z . She was one of last year’s Mental Health Heroes. In this YouTube video below, she uses technology in a positive way to help educate and remove the veil off the stigma of sex and love addiction.

Keep up the good work Dani!!

“The internet definitely made it easier to find people to date. I could easily move from one “relationship” to the next. I was on a few dating websites. I got a lot of messages so I could just go online and pick someone’s message to answer and set up a date. I could also give someone my number and have someone to flirt with through texts all day. Towards the end when I started to realize how serious the addiction was getting I started trying to curb it by only getting involved in online relationships and sex.

I told myself that it was better to do that than act out with people in person because that way I wasn’t in any real danger and it didn’t even really count since it was online. I just know that technology made my addiction always accessible to me because I was constantly checking my emails, my texts etc. to flirt or see who was interested in me. Once I started my SLAA meetings [Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous] and decided to stop acting out on all those behaviors I noticed that my work started improving.

I actually started making more money! I knew it was causing consequences but didn’t realize that my addiction was so bad that it was actually affecting me financially. When I stopped action out on all those behaviors I was focused at work and I accomplished a lot more. I wasn’t constantly checking messages or daydreaming. I don’t think there is anything wrong with sex, not even online sex but when it interferes with someone handling responsibilities and achieving their goals I think it has become a problem.” – Dani Z